Potted plants are normally packaged for shipment by growers or retailers in protective, tapered, paper sleeves. To facilitate the packaging of smaller potted plants in the sleeves, a packaging device, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,079, can be employed. In accordance with that patent, the potted plant is placed on a support that is mounted on the top of a vertical column. A group of nested paper sleeves are located around the column beneath the plant and the innermost sleeve is then drawn upwardly around the plant to bring the lower end of the sleeve into engagement with the pot to enclose the plant.
While the packaging device as disclosed in the aforementioned patent, has proven very successful with smaller plants, or plants with light foliage, it has not been adaptable for plants having heavy foliage, or foliage that drapes downwardly around the pot.
Because of this, it has been the practice by growers and retailers to manually insert the potted plants with heavy foliage into the paper sleeves. The manual process is normally carried out by two people, with one person holding the plant and the second holding the sleeve in an open condition. The sleeve is then moved upwardly around the plant. The manual packaging of plants is a tedious and time-consuming operation and frequently the heavy or draping foliage is trapped between the rim of the pot and the sleeve, causing the foliage to be broken or damaged.
Therefore, there has been a need for a simple and effective packaging device, which can be employed to package potted plants with heavy foliage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to an apparatus for packaging potted plants and has particular application to the packaging of plants having heavy foliage, or plants having foliage the drapes downwardly over the pot.
The apparatus includes a base and a vertical column extends upwardly from the base and terminates in a generally flat plant support plate, which is adapted to support the potted plant. One or more open-ended, tapered paper sleeves are disposed around the vertical column and are located beneath the plant support.
A ring, having a diameter greater than the diameter of the rim of the pot, is aligned above the plant support, and is mounted for movement on a second vertical column that is parallel to the first column. The ring carries an open-ended, flexible, bag and the lower end of the bag has a smaller diameter than the upper end and contains an expandable elastic band.
To facilitate movement of the ring and bag on the second vertical column, a counterweight can be connected to the ring to counterbalance its weight and maintain the ring at any desired position along the length of the column. In addition, a frictional element can be interposed between the collar that carries the ring and the column to prevent free movement of the collar and ring relative to the column and retain the ring in a given position.
In operation, the bag is initially located at a lower position, in which the upper end of the bag and the ring are located slightly above the plant support. The potted plant is then positioned on the support and the ring is drawn upwardly around the pot and around the plant, folding the foliage inwardly. The smaller diameter lower end of the bag will expand as it moves upwardly around the pot, and the upward movement of the ring is terminated when the lower end of the bag is slightly above the rim of the pot. In this position, the foliage of the plant is fully contained within the bag.
The sleeve is then drawn upwardly around the bag until the lower end of the sleeve engages the pot, and the bag is then withdrawn upwardly from the sleeve to complete the operation. The foliage is thus fully contained within the protective sleeve.
As a feature of the invention, a second ring can be mounted on the second column and positioned around the first column. The sleeves are contained within the second ring and thus will be maintained in an open condition.
The apparatus of the invention greatly facilitates the packaging of potted plants having heavy foliage in the protective paper sleeve. The packaging can be done by a single operator.
As the foliage is drawn or folded upwardly as the bag is drawn around the pot, there is no possibility of the foliage being trapped between the rim of the pot and the protective sleeve. Thus, the apparatus provides an effective method of packaging plants with minimum damage to the plants.
Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.